(FORTUNE Magazine) – A few years after cash-starved Fiat Group sold a $400-million stake to Libya, the company began to turn the corner (FORTUNE, November 12, 1984). Now Libya needs cash, so in September Fiat divorced its embarrassing partner. The settlement: A group of European banks and the Agnelli family, which controls Fiat, bought the stock for about $3 billion. The banks then sold their $2.09 % billion of stock in one of the largest Euro-equity offerings ever. They overpriced the shares, and a quick decline undermined confidence in the emerging international equities market. It did not reflect Fiat's outlook. The company earned $694 million on 1985 sales of $14 billion, and industry analysts think profits will nearly double this year. Fiat has bid for a piece of ailing Italian automaker Alfa Romeo, which Ford Motor also wants.